2 to 3 pairs of saddle hackles, concave (dull) sides together, like praying hands, not splayed like frog legs. White strung saddles used here. A few strands of Flashabou or Krystal flash can also be added along sides of tail Pearl Krystal Flash added here.

A 360 degree collar of bucktail is applied around the shank, color or colors of your choice. This example uses white bucktail Keep the bunches sparse about 1/2 the diameter of a wooden kitchen match

Throat

optional, can be a short tuft of marabou, rabbbit or hackle fibers, short strands or Krystal flash. Red calftail used here.

Wing

A wing of a contrasting color is often tied in, slightly to the front of the collar. In this example, blue bucktail is used making this a "blue over white deceiver"

Topping

Optional, in this example several strands of peacock herl are used

Lateral Line

Optional, in this example a strand of Silver Salt Water Flashabou is added along the side of each wing. (SW Flashabou is thicker than regular Flashabou)

Head

Thread head covered in a couple coats of head cement Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails used here.

Eyes

Optional, but they add a nice finished look. Could be stick-on prismatic eyes, or as here, acrylic paint. Cover thread wraps with at least one coat of head cement and let dry first. Then apply eyes and cover with one or more coats of head cement.

Special tying notes

If you're new to tying these, after plucking the feathers from a saddle or strung bunch and stripping off the fluff at the base of the feather, dip them in a glass of water. It will make them a lot easier to work with, and will let you temporarily "glue" them together by pressing the wet feathers together and assemble the tail in one piece. This is a lot easier than trying to match up the tips, pair feathers on each side and assemble the tail with dry feathers. Soon you'll be able to tie these in your sleep without wetting the feathers, but if you're just starting out you'll find it a lot easier. Although individual preference will of course vary, try and use a sparse amount of bucktail when assembling the collar and wing. You'll find the fly will be tend to be more durable (more thread in direct contact with the individual hairs in a sparse bundle). In addition a fly with a sparse dressing will be less wind resistant ( easier to cast), will sink faster, and is likely to have better action in the water.

Note on materials

For the tail, strung "Salt water length" 5-7" long saddles are an inexpensive choice at around $3.50 for 1/4 oz. Whiting American Saddles, and Hareline "Deciever Saddles" are also good choices but are a bit more expensive. Typically these will let you tie Deceivers up to 6-7" long or so on a standard 3/0 hook. For larger patterns, you can use "Schlappen" feathers to get longer length and a fuller look for larger patterns tied on larger hooks up to 6/0 or so

Materials..... Hook...... primatic stick on eyes..... strong thread like Danville's Flat Waxed Nylon.....Bucktail for wing and collar...... Krystal Flash and Flashabou for added flash, .........Braided mylar for body.....Strung saddle hackle and "Deceiver" saddle (similar to Whiting American Saddle) for tail..... Not shown: small plastic cup with water for dipping feathers to make them easier to control.

Tie on thread above the hook point and work rearward on shank directly above barb to make a thread base for the attachment of the hackle tail

Select four or six saddle feathers for the tail. Strip fluff from the stem at the base of the feathers. In this example we are using 4 feathers, and will be building a tail with 2 feathers on each side.

To make the feathers easier to handle, dip them in a dish of water and start to assemble each side of the tail by stacking feathers on top of each other. The dull sides of each feather should be facing down.

Line up the tips of each side. At the base of the feathers, with your left hand, pinch the wet feathers together and grab the stems with your right hand and pull the feathers through. The wet feathers should be stuck together temporarily. Repeat these steps with the other pair of feathers.

The two wet sides should be easy to line up together now.

With the dull sides of each feather pair facing each other, line up the tips of the two sides and draw them through your fingers again to make it easy to mount them as one unit. Ideally the length of the tail should be about 2x the hook length if possible, but if they're a bit shorter that's OK too. Bind down the stems of the feathers directly on top of the shank of the hook ( not along the sides). To prevent the stems from rolling, each thread wrap should be in front of the one behind it. After you've taken several tight turns of thread, Adjust the feathers into alignment if necessary by tugging them into place.

Wrap the stems up the shank with tight turns of thread, being careful not to let them spin around the far side of the hook about 2 eye lengths behind the eye of the hook.

Cut the butts and cover with a layer of thread wraps

Work the thread back down the shank. Add flash along each side of tail if desired ) Silver Salt Water Flashabou here)

Secure about 6" of body braid, with tag end extending forward

Bind down tag end of body braid with wraps of thread and leave thread hanging at end of body (approximately 2 eye lengths behind eye of hook)

Flip jaws or invert hook in vise so hook is rifding hook point up. Select a clump of bucktail about 1/2 the diameter of a wooden kitchen match. The length of the bucktail should reach from the tie in point to about the first the 1/3 of the tail. "Mush" the bucktail down to distribute it around the top and both sides of the inverted hook shank and bind it down with a couple tight wraps of thread.

Trim the butts and bind down with additional wraps

Flip the hook and tie in another bunch of bucktail on top of the shank the same way we just did the previous step distributing a thin layer around the top and both sides of the shank. There should now be a sparse bucktail collar 360 degrees around the shank top bottom and sides

Trim the butts and add a bit of flash if desired. Here a few strands of blue Krystal flash are tied directly on top of the shank and will be under the wing of blue bucktail

Just forward of the collar tie in, add another bunch of bucktail for the wing directly on top of the shank (not distributed around the sides) and after the butts for the wing are trimmed, add a topping if desired (8 strands of peacock herl here) and form aneat head

Trim the butts of herl, add a throat if desired (red calftail here). Form a neat head and tie off. Coat with head cement, and add eyes if desired.

Here are a couple of Deceivers-- top a blue over white Deceiver on a 1/0 hook tied with saddle hackles from a Hareline Deceiver Saddle (similar to a Whiting American Saddle). Note the length of the feathers in the tail compared to the identical fly in the middle tied with less expensive strung saddle feathers. Although the strung saddles are a little shorter than ideal in terms of proportions on a hook this size-- at least in terms of looks, it will likely make little difference to the fish. On the bottom is a Deceiver tied in "schoolbus" colors on a size 1 (not 1/0) hook with a strung yellow dyed grizzle saddle tail, a collar of white bucktail belly, yellow sides and olive top, a throat of orange calftail and an over wing of black bucktail.

Experiment!

Vary colors and sizes to match baitfish. "Attractor" color combinations are also very effective.

Target species

striped bass, red fish, tarpon, snook, bluefish, etc

Fishing notes

This pattern is a "must have" in everyone's saltwater box, and can be used to imitate freshwater baitfish including alewife and shad, white fish, cisco etc